Tsoureki is either liked or loved. Greeks serve it with coffee.

Tsoureki is Greek sweet bread. Traditionally, it is prepared for Easter, but you can eat it throughout the year in pastry shops.

The basic shape is braided, and if it is prepared for Easter, then a red egg is placed in the middle.

If you find yourself in Thessaloniki, make sure to try the tsoureki from the pastry shop Terkenlis. This pastry shop and bakery has been working and preparing best tsoureki (and many other good cakes) since 1948. During the last few years, tsoureki has been enriched with toppings and various fillings: chocolate, hazelnut, orange, lemon, and my favorite is with white chocolate and chestnut.

One of the pastry shops from the Terkenlis chain is on Aristotle Square, and there are ten more shops in Thessaloniki, among others at the airport, bus and train station and the Cosmos shopping center. In Thessaloniki there are 6 Terkenlis pastry shops.

If you spend your holiday in Leptokarya or Kallithea, you can also enjoy the rich taste of the tsoureki.

The flavor is specific and you may not like it at the first bite. Mastic (resin from the mastic tree that grows on the island of Hios. You can read more about it here.) mahlepi, orange peel, give it a specific taste.

You can find mastic and mahlepi in spice shops. They are also used in Arabic cuisine.

Tsoureki is beautifully packed so it can also be a great gift. I have noticed that when the excursions from the minor Greek towns arrive in Thessaloniki, one of the mandatory stations is Terkenlis. The cake needn’t be stored in the fridge.